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Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.

Alan Perlis

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Alan Perlis
Age: 67 †
Born: 1922
Born: April 1
Died: 1990
Died: February 7
Computer Scientist
Mathematician
University Teacher
Pittsburg
Pennsylvania
Alan Jay Perlis
Alan J. Perlis
Pragmatists
Precede
Follows
Programming
Complexity
Simplicity
Doe

More quotes by Alan Perlis

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You think you KNOW when you learn, are more sure when you can write, even more when you can teach, but certain when you can program.
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One can't proceed from the informal to the formal by formal means.
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Optimization hinders evolution.
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Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer.
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When a professor insists computer science is X but not Y, have compassion for his graduate students.
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One can only display complex information in the mind. Like seeing, movement or flow or alteration of view is more important than the static picture, no matter how lovely.
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In English every word can be verbed.
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Often it is the means that justify the ends: goals advance technique and technique survives even when goal structures crumble.
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It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.
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In the long run, every program becomes rococo, and then rubble.
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A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.
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I think it is inevitable that people program poorly. Training will not substantially help matters. We have to learn to live with it.
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If your computer speaks English, it was probably made in Japan.
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If you have a procedure with 10 parameters, you probably missed some.
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C programmers never die. They are just cast into void.
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Optimization hinders evolution. Everything should be built top-down, except the first time. Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it.
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FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed - it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer.
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Any noun can be verbed.
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In English every word can be verbed. Would that it were so in our programming languages.
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It goes against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail and learning to be self-critical?
Alan Perlis